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VT Killer Needs Closer Look

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Commentary
By Eric Quach

On Monday, April 16, the nation was shocked by the cowardly acts of a student at Virginia Tech University. As the day ended, the death toll rose to 33, including the shooter. Most Americans and the media looked back to the last tragedy most similar to this, the shootings at Columbine High School. But then, the next morning, authorities released a picture of the culprit. As I looked at the picture, I looked at the face of someone familiar. He was someone who looked a lot like me, more than I would have ever expected after hearing the news. A chill went down my spine.

The same stories spread like wildfire on the news. News of "a troubled teen," "a loner," "a sick, demented person," "someone with a me-against-the-world attitude" and "someone in imminent danger to himself and others" followed in succession, one after another. Through all the news, I had questions like everyone else. What would make him kill? Couldn&#39;t this have been prevented? There are a lot of "what-ifs" that come from a tragedy like this.

When NBC released excerpts of the DVD they were sent by Seung-Hui Cho on Wednesday morning, I grew more interested in the subject. Since we are on a campus with a primarily Asian population, I wondered if it could happen here. I began to think about his motives, his life and what it might have been like. Every news article and report paints a picture of the profile of a typical school shooter. He was "a loner," rationalized his acts by making himself a victim, had many "red flags" in his past and played violent video games.

Whether any of that was relevant or not, you have to decide. What led to the development of these characteristics in Cho? How far back must we go to see where this could&#39;ve been stopped?

It was a scary thought that I could somehow remotely relate to someone who killed 32 people at his school. Aside from his apparent mental instability, he was just another quiet Asian kid at the school trying to get by.

His inability to connect with others and his lack of emotion are characteristic of many Asians brought up in traditional Asian households. It is possible that he was brought up in a household where his parents didn&#39;t talk to him unless they needed to scold him. Maybe the Kobe Bryant approach was needed; maybe "he wasn&#39;t hugged enough as a child." Maybe he was programmed to never question his parents, to always hold back and keep his thoughts and emotions in. Perhaps he was never taught how to deal with his emotions like many raised in this type of household.

In a traditional Asian household, children are never taught how to deal with the opposite sex. Cho had been reported as a stalker on two separate occasions by fellow students. Maybe it was something in his approach to girls that scared them enough to call the police, but whatever it was, there were at least two obvious strikeouts for Cho in that department.

Cho was an English major, but told everyone who asked that he was a business/economics major. His older sister is a successful graduate of Princeton University, one of the top universities in the nation. Perhaps there was immense pressure from his parents and family to be successful, to make a lot of money. Of course, most people don&#39;t see much money in English and creative writing. He was also a great student in high school. He got good grades, and probably was teased for being a "geek" or "nerd" in his younger years. Maybe that&#39;s another thing that helped drive him over the edge.

Being from an immigrant family may have also had an impact on him. Growing up, his family&#39;s finances were tight. His parents worked as much as they could to get by and to give their children a good life. Maybe his parents were too busy with work to spend time with him. Their spending habits were probably to buy only things they needed, nothing in excess. He might have grown frustrated after living his whole life with nothing going his way.

In one video clip, he poses questions to rich people: "You had everything that you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn&#39;t enough, you brats? Your golden necklaces weren&#39;t enough, you snobs?" I&#39;m sure Cho spent many birthdays as a child wishing he had received a better gift.

I certainly am not condoning his actions and I hope that a lot can be learned through this tragedy. There are kids still being raised in this country the same way Cho was and obviously, the way we are living, the way we are treating each other and the way we are raising kids isn&#39;t perfect. So maybe it&#39;s time we change. Cho&#39;s parents had equipped him well for success academically but not emotionally.

Maybe the onus is on us to treat each other as we would like to be treated, with respect. Perhaps teachers and counselors should have reached out to him. We can speculate all we want at this point, but the only thing we can do now is change and hope this does not happen again.

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Original Source:<a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5751>New University - April 23, 2007</a>

Creator

Eric Quach

Publisher

New University

Date

2007-08-23

Contributor

Sara Hood

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Zachary Gale <newueic@gmail.com>

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Create a Violence-Free Society

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By Marissa Camilon
Staff Writer

Amidst the midterms, papers and parties, college students can find it hard to believe that just a 20-minute period can actually make our lives stress-free and easier. This was the message that was emphasized during the Art of Living Organization&#39;s talk, "Creating a Violence-Free Society."

With guest speaker international humanitarian Swami Pragyapad, this event strived to reach out to the UC Irvine community in order to establish a more peaceful and more harmonious environment for students and faculty.

While the talk was open to the public, it proved to be an intimate atmosphere for the organization and event-goers.

Sitting in a simple white chair in the front of the room, Pragyapad comfortably addressed real life issues that we struggle with in our everyday life. According to Pragyapad, we begin our lives as children constantly being told that we are to be calm and quiet, but never told how.

If that wasn&#39;t enough of a predicament, it is also human nature for us to constantly think about the things that we are told not to think about. These inner conflicts can cause us to feel immense stress and when the mind is disturbed, the effects can be seen in all aspects of life.

Pragyapad went on to explain the four factors that affect our state of mind. The type of food we eat can be very important. As a "gas" for our bodies and brains, eating the wrong kind of food can alter our behavior. Secondly, the quality of sleep that each of us receive can have a heavy impact on our lifestyle. Also, our breathing pattern can change our mindset. It is for us to recognize that when we are in a state of fear or anger, we can breathe a certain way.

We should also recognize that intentionally taking calm, deep breaths can help change our attitudes. In addition, our understanding of what our lives are about and who we are can have an effect on our state of mind. The more we feel we have a grasp on life, the more our minds can be at ease.

Just as a disturbed mind can cause unwanted side effects, a calm mind can make everything seem just that much better. With a clear mind, one can make decisions, study and even play better. Pragyapad&#39;s key tip to getting a good night&#39;s rest is simply to work hard. Another technique to having a stress-free mind is meditation, which he defined as the "art of doing nothing."

In 20-minutes of meditation, someone can get the same amount of rest as four hours of sleep. When asked what he thought about during meditation, Pragyapad replied that he would simply "observe whatever happens in the body."

So why don&#39;t more college students take advantage of the benefits from a simple meditation? "Because they think meditation is anti-enjoyment," said Pragyapad, who insists that this is far from the truth.

For Pragyapad, a calming mind allows him to handle his frustrations and even help his grades, while studying less. Meditation doesn&#39;t even require you to necessarily go anywhere exotic, as was evident from our group meditation in a classroom. He does warn, however, that first-time meditation can lead to a sensation of sleepiness from the calming of the mind, which "passes in a few minutes."

In regard to the recent "epidemic" of violence on high school and college campuses, Pragyapad sees meditation and other stress-relieving techniques as a means to help promote a stress-free university environment.

To curb the violence, Pragyapad believes that we have to do two things. First, we all have to accept responsibility for the violent overtones in society and stop pointing fingers at each other.

In accepting responsibility, we can all contribute to the change that needs to be done to better the community.

The second step is to reach out to those people who don&#39;t know how to handle their emotions. Pragyapad says that "most of us can curb our violence tendencies; others cannot." Realizing this, we must reach out to everyone, because as Pragyapad says, it "doesn&#39;t require many to make hell for all of us." Using the methods of stress relief and meditation that is promoted by the Art of Living Organization, these individuals can learn how to deal with stress and find alternatives to such violent tendencies.

Since the shooting at Virginia Tech University and suicide on the UCI campus, Matthew Scharpnick, a student at the Paul Merage School of Business and participant in the Art of Living Organization, says that the "whole foundation is putting forth an effort in the university [setting]."

Scharpnick continues that "with things like the Virginia Tech shooting, you can&#39;t say for sure, but maybe, if he had the tools [of meditation and breath exercises], things could&#39;ve been different."

The Art of Living course is a six-day class that teaches a combination of yoga, meditation and breath techniques called Sudarshan Kriya. This course gives participants the skills to deal with stress and negative emotions.

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Original Source: <a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5879>New University - May 21, 2001</a>

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Campus Mourns Virginia Tech Tragedy (Part 2)

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<b>SHOOTING: Study shows that often many common myths about school shootings are not necessarily correct.</b>

By Chammarra Johnson
Staff Writer

Following the recent shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, an article released on MSNBC.com last February has many people talking about the many misconceptions regarding the perpetrators of school shootings and what this means for colleges across the country.

The list was compiled from a 2002 study by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. The researchers studied various case files and other primary sources for 37 attacks by current or former students. They also interviewed 10 of the perpetrators in these attacks. According to the list, the most common myths are:

There Are No Profiles - There is no accurate way to profile students for being at risk of committing crimes like this. When creating a profile, you will be at risk of having many innocent people fit the &#39;profile&#39; and many attackers who do not. According to the article, "The demographic, personality, school history and social characteristics of the attackers varied substantially. Attackers were of all races and family situations, with academic achievement ranging from failing to excellent."

He Just Snapped - Attacks are not usually impulsive. Instead, the attackers usually plan their attacks, spending time forming the idea and gathering weapons.

No One Knew - Before most attacks, the perpetrators reveal to someone their plans, usually a friend, classmate or sibling. However, this information rarely makes it to an adult.

He Hadn&#39;t Threatened Anyone - A person doesn&#39;t need to vocalize a threat to pose a threat. A student who is seeking revenge, has spoken of bringing a gun to school, etc, is a threat. According to the article, "Most attackers did not threaten and most threateners did not attack."

He Was a Loner - Most of the perpetrators of school shootings were kids who participated in clubs, sports or other activities. Only one-quarter of shooters were "fringe" students.

He Was Crazy - While most of the perpetrators had a history of suicidal thoughts, depression and trouble dealing with loss or personal failures, only one-third had ever been seen by mental health professional and only one-fifth were diagnosed with a mental disorder.

If Only We&#39;d Had a SWAT Team or Metal Detectors - SWAT teams usually arrive once an incident is over and metal detectors won&#39;t deter students intent on killing themselves or others.

He&#39;d Never Touched a Gun - Most shooters have touched a gun at some point in their lives and many acquire guns from their homes.

We Did Everything We Could to Help Him - Most perpetrators of school shootings have felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others before committing their crimes and most have tried to get some sort of help.

School Violence Is Rampant - It may seem as though we see school shootings in the news on a regular basis, but school shootings are actually very rare.

So, in light of the recent shooting at Virginia Tech, do UC Irvine students feel more at risk?

Anthony Marsh, a fourth-year history major, feels that we are not at risk. "In California, there are stricter gun control laws so it isn&#39;t as easy for people to wantonly walk into gun shops and purchase them."

Another student, who wishes to remain anonymous disagrees. "This shooting has shown me that violence like this can occur anywhere, even on college campuses. What I am most afraid of is that in Irvine, we won&#39;t be prepared if something of this nature happens. The administration and police might not know what to do."

Professor Linda Vo, an Asian-American studies professor, hopes that we will use this tragedy in order to strengthen our own school policies. "I do hope that we use this opportunity to reevaluate our mental health policies on university campuses and make improvements where necessary. College campuses are now more diverse than ever before, so it&#39;s important to have counselors who are trained to work with their needs.

Everyone is making changes in response to this tragedy in order to better serve the school community in a time of crisis. Currently, the UCI Police Department is going over and revamping procedures in order to prepare for such an event. But if something were to occur, would they be ready? Hopefully, we will never know.

--

Original Source:<a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5713>New University - April 23, 2007</a>

Creator

Chammarra Johnson

Date

2007-08-19

Contributor

Sara Hood

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Zachary Gale <newueic@gmail.com>

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Title

What We Can Learn From Virginia Tech

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By Dr. Thomas Parham

In the wake of the tragic events that occurred at Virginia Tech University, many in our community will be forced to wrestle with and confront some tough questions and concerns. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and families, as well as the broader campus community. No amount of planning and preparation can ever truly prepare one for the events that unfolded on April 16, and yet our thoughts cannot resist the tendency to delve into spaces that invite critical reflection and analysis about our own vulnerability to such a tragedy within the borders of this campus.

Times like these challenge our individual and collective sensibilities as we seek to desperately cling to notions of life that are far more predictable, less scary and less unsettling. Our designs for living and patterns for interpreting reality have been shaken by this single act of horrific proportion, which dislodges us from our comfortable spaces of intellectual, emotional, behavioral and even spiritual comfort.

As people struggle to cope with this horrific tragedy, it is likely that some will experience a broad range of emotional reactions, including anxiety, confusion, depression, insecurity, anger, resentment, sadness, vulnerability and fear. Some may experience difficulty sleeping, eating or concentrating on their studies. These feelings are normal and reasonable, and consistent with what mental health professionals predict. Over time, these feelings will diminish for most people.

We want each member of our community to know that we are here for you in ways that ensure, to the best of our ability, your safety, as well as address your emotional and psychological well-being in this time of extreme distress.

In recalling the incidents of last week, I want to invite each of you to resist the temptation to espouse what could or should have been done. Hindsight is always 20/20, and none of us really knows what it was like in the moments surrounding the tragedy. What I do want to encourage and provide is an invitation to explore the implications of this tragedy for our own UC Irvine campus and the psychological resources that are available to assist us, should some incident darken our door.

First, no one can predict with absolute certainty if or when such a tragedy might occur or when individuals, whether reacting to normal life stressors or challenged to cope with some level of mental illness, are likely to erupt. We have little, if any, control over these events that so impact our lives. Fortunately, incidents like Virginia Tech or Columbine are relatively infrequent and it is important to remind ourselves that order is much more frequent than disorder and tragedy, and our blessings in life far outweigh our trials and tribulations.

What we do control is how we manage our own spaces, and how we access and/or refer individuals to the resources that can help them better cope with personal or life challenges, particularly in times of moderate or severe distress. The UCI campus is blessed with a full array of mental and physical health and wellness services. The Counseling Center provides a broad range of mental health treatment that can deliver individual and group counseling and therapy, walk-in and triage coverage, consultation, psycho-educational workshops and training, and crisis intervention. Our Student Health Mental Health Clinic, in addition to the psychological interventions listed below, also delivers psychiatric assessment, pharmacotherapy and consultation. Our campus also boasts a Health Education Center that provides important information on healthy lifestyle support that can be useful in managing or coping with a tragic circumstance. Please encourage students to take advantage of these services.

If you experience any of these symptoms or would just like someone to talk to, we invite you to contact the Counseling Center at (949) 824-6457 or the Student Health Mental Health Clinic at (949) 824-1835. For staff or faculty, we invite you to contact the Faculty Staff Counseling Center at (949) 824-8355.

Do not be reticent about discussing emergency planning and personal-safety scenarios with your family, roommates and friends. Determine how you will communicate and plan for how you will physically reconnect. Having these plans will provide a focus for stepping through tragic circumstances and help to lessen our concerns about the unknown. UCI&#39;s Environmental Health and Safety Web site can walk you through this type of planning.

We also control how we interact with colleagues and friends, and our ability to leave those interactions having helped create a positive space where people feel comfortable, cared about and affirmed for having been with us. A smile, or an encouraging word, goes a long way toward making someone&#39;s day.

In addition to the tone of the conversation, we also control the quality of the interaction. How many times a day, in our interactions with friends and colleagues, do we fail to engage people in more genuine and authentic conversations? People respond to our queries about how they are doing with canned, almost robotic answers that suggest they are "fine." And yet, behind many of their replies is a staff, faculty colleague or student friend whose smile masks a deeper pain or hurt, or maybe just a hint of discomfort. You can make a difference in their lives by simply slowing down the questioning enough to get an honest and legitimate answer. If they are experiencing any distress, please refer them to a professional for help and assistance.

Central to our campus values articulated so well by Chancellor Michael Drake is the value of empathy. Let us use this occasion to empathize with the victims, families, students and colleagues in Virginia and pray that their healing will be swift. Let us also allow these circumstances to remind us to engage each person in this UCI campus community with a level of compassion and caring that illustrates their importance to our university family.

Thomas A. Parham is the assistant vice chancellor of counseling and health services and the director of the Counseling Center.

Creator

Thomas A. Parham

Publisher

New University

Date

2007-08-19

Contributor

Sara Hood

Rights

Zachary Gale <newueic@gmail.com>

Language

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Media Coverage of VT Tragedy Irresponsible

Description

By Tammesia Green

Following the massacre that occurred at Virginia Tech University on April 16, many have come to question their own safety at universities across the country. The profile of a school shooter, once narrowed to a lonely white male high-school student with a fascination with and open access to guns, was quickly re-examined as we discovered the shooter to be 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui. But before the news had been released that the shooter was Asian, the question on everyone&#39;s mind was whether this catastrophe could have been prevented. This question is a good one, and should be debated, but reflecting on the length of time the press devoted to this subject was unsettling for me.

I remember going to class the morning of the shooting and hearing news reports that two people had been shot at a Virginia Tech dormitory. Upon my return five hours later I was shocked to see the death toll had escalated to 33. Immediately, I wanted to know what had happened and if the killer had been caught. Watching the news, all I could find were reporters asking questions like, "Why wasn&#39;t the school placed on lockdown? What time was the first e-mail sent to students? Why wasn&#39;t more done to prevent this tragedy?"

It became clear that I would not learn anything about what actually took place on the campus that could account for the casualty numbers rising; I had to resort to the Internet to try to make sense of all that was happening. After getting a clear account, I was upset at the amount of time the network news channels devoted to placing blame on officials at Virginia Techâ€”only, the "placing blame" was not seen for what it was. Instead, it was promoted as good investigative journalism.

I understand that it is the job of a journalist to ask the hard questions and uphold a level of accountability toward officials. However, I found that the questions posed by reporters in press conferences regarding Virginia Tech were not necessarily out of line, but a result of constant criticism of their inability to question authority in high-stakes situations.

Past disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the logic behind going to war with Iraq played their roles in the types of questions posed to Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. These questions were simply a ploy to preemptively avoid any backlash from the public for not addressing accountability.

Following the invasion of Iraq and never finding weapons of mass destruction, the public began to demand that journalists not be afraid to question authority and command answers from high-ranking officials. Hurricane Katrina allowed for reporters to regain some credibility by analyzing slow relief efforts and the lack of preparation from the government. It is no surprise that in order to keep credibility and uphold the public&#39;s faith in reporters, journalists continued to grow a backbone and demanded answers from those in power.

The word "accountability" is ultimately what forced the media to focus on how administrators screwed up and not the shooter. But accountability is not to be placed on school administrators and campus police when the act was really the work of one man, and only he can be blamed. Real investigative journalism would have been to expose the motives of Cho, not debate whether an e-mail should have been sent earlier or been more detailed. Even as students from the Virginia Tech campus were being interviewed and asked if their administration at the university should have done more, the look of "Are you really asking me this now?" ran across most of their faces. They, like me, could not understand why their administrators were being harassed as if they made the events unfold, and not Cho.

There is no way administrators at Virginia Tech could have predicted that a domestic dispute incident would be cause for the closing of an entire university. Anyone who thinks they would have had the notion to suspend classes and not think of the first attack as an isolated incident is thinking in the context of hindsight. Colleges enroll large quantities of students, equivalent to the population of some U.S. cities. Just like a city, Virginia Tech did not shut down when evidence of a homicide was discovered.

It is nice to want to believe that our college campuses are the last step before entering the real world, and are therefore void of the many threats society holds. But evil does exist and it knows no bounds. This evil of one individual is the only factor that should matter in evaluating who is accountable for the Virginia Tech massacre.

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Original Source:<a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5789>New University - April 30, 2007</a>

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Commentary
By Philip Grant

Dear Chancellor Drake,

My most heartfelt sympathies are also with those affected by the terrible events of last week at Virginia Tech.

I write to you nonetheless not merely to share my sympathies with you, but to express my anger. I am deeply disturbed by the message you have sent to the community of UC Irvine. My misgivings lie at two levels.

Firstly, I do not understand why the victims of the massacre at Virginia Tech are alone deemed worthy of special e-mail messages from the chancellor of the university, of candlelight vigils and so on. Consider the following statistics:

These are only the major "incidents" of losses of civilian life in Iraq in the eight months since I have been at UCI. I do not recall any e-mail messages inviting us to candlelight vigils on their behalf. I do not recall that they were even considered worthy of a single second of serious reflection on any of our parts. Perhaps we are overcome by a surfeit of suffering: Whether one Iraqi dies or 100 is all the same to us, since there are just too many deaths for us to comprehend. What need solidarity, therefore? Yet the "families and friends of the victims" of the more than 60,000 Iraqi civilians (Iraq Body Count, reported deaths only) or the 100,000 to 150,000 Iraqi civilians (Iraqi Ministry of Health), or the 655,000 Iraqi civilians ("The Lancet") that have been killed since the beginning of the war - could we but speak with them face to face - might have something to teach us concerning what it means to be confronted with suffering on an unimaginable scale. Perhaps we can no longer muster the humility required to look on them and listen in attentive silence.

What happens to our sense of solidarity, our compassion, our shared humanity, when we turn our attention from Virginia to Iraq? No doubt: The candle-flame of our sympathies is quickly extinguished by the chill currents of the Atlantic.

Secondly, I am astonished that I am being told that "our nation" is in "stunned sorrow," that "everyone at UCI and across the nation" is affected by this tragedy. I remember being very impressed during my TA training when I first came to UCI by the instructors who taught us of the importance of being sensitive as teachers to the great diversity of the UCI community, to the wonderful variety of origins and backgrounds of the people we would be teaching or with whom we would be interacting during our careers here. I hope I have taken this lesson to heart and that I practice it during every waking hour of my time here.

Yet I find that the chancellor of the university is appealing to my sympathies as part of "our nation," and I do not know how to react, except with sorrow.

I am not of your nation! If I were in a minority of one, then perhaps I would shrug my shoulders and let these words pass. But I am not: There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of students, staff, and faculty at UCI who are not of "our nation"; we are grateful for the opportunities we have here, and we strive as hard as anyone to contribute to this community. Have you forgotten this? Am I - are we - not part of this community too? May we not express our sympathies and solidarity for the victims of the Virginia massacre, not because we are members of "our nation," but because as human beings we know that those who died in Virginia had faces like us, because we can imagine ourselves as others who are like us? "We are, on a fundamental level, all members of one community," you write. Does this truly mean "all" of us, or only those of us who are part of "our nation"? The answer must be the first: "Our nation" has no role to play in how we commemorate and mourn this tragedy.

Why is it, in this community that is so palpably diverse, in this country where people have as many origins as there are stars in the sky, that we have to resort to the exclusionary rhetoric of "our nation"? Why mourn those who died and commiserate with those who remain on the grounds that they too are part of "our nation," when we could instead speak in a spirit so much more generous and hospitable, so much more open and humane: We mourn those who died not because they were like us and of us, but because they were like us and yet different from us. Surely ethics starts not with ourselves, but with others.

I remember only too vividly how, after Sept. 11, young people in Iran poured into the streets and held spontaneous candlelight vigils for those who died in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, without it ever occurring to them that they should only mourn those who were of "their nation." Strange thought! It is the "Axis of Evil" that teaches the "land of the free" respect for others, and not the other way round, whatever we might expect. We know what follows, and perhaps now at last, however obscurely, we begin to glimpse an answer - a troubling answer - to the question a very great man posed nearly two millennia ago:

"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?"

I did not attend the candlelight vigil on Monday, April 23, not because I do not wish to express my solidarity with the victims of the massacre in Virginia, but because I cannot express my solidarity with them while excluding those who are not of "our nation," those who die like cattle in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere.

However, from the time I went to bed that Monday night until the time I woke up on Wednesday morning, I abstained from all food and drink except tap water, as part of what the French call a "jeÃ»ne d&#39;interpellation," an untranslatable phrase that means something like a fast designed to call people&#39;s attention to a problem. I wish to call our attention to the selectivity of our solidarity and compassion, to ask us all not to quench our candlelight in the sea but to bear it aloft in memory of all those who die a violent death anywhere, just as the young women and men of Iran have taught us. I am not expecting to change the world by this one tiny action; perhaps all I can hope for is to make people stop and reflect, if only for a second, on the fact that our community extends well beyond Virginia.

Philip Grant is a graduate student in the department of anthropology.

--

Original Source:<a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5791>New University - April 30, 2007</a>

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CCC Hosts Vigil for V-Tech

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<b>MOURNING: At the official UC Irvine vigil for Virginia Tech administrators offered support to students.</b>

By Anam Siddiq
Staff Writer

In a vigil hosted by the Cross Cultural Center and UC Irvine Student Affairs, candles were passed out to hundreds of students, faculty and friends who had gathered on April 23 to give a final salute to all those killed and injured at the hands of one unstable man.

Exactly one week earlier, the sun rose in Blacksburg, Virg. on a truly unfortunate scene. By the next week, the tragic events that had occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute were common knowledge, and although students across the campus had already held numerous vigils, UCI felt compelled to officially honor the victims in a formal ceremony.

The event, advertised by the CCC, was also publicized by e-mails sent by Chancellor Michael Drake and included speakers from UCI administration, including Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez and Dean of Students Sally Peterson. Irvine Mayor Beth Krom and Orange County Human Relations Representative Ken Inouye were also asked to speak at the vigil, as well as two student representatives, ASUCI President Stephanie Johnson and Korean American Student Association Rep Rheela Kim.

At 6:45 p.m., student musician Andrew Heringer began the ceremony with penetrating music played on his acoustic guitar. At the end an uncommonly serene silence befell Ring Road as the chattering crowd delved into quiet contemplation.

Peterson was introduced, and emphasized that the program was one of remembrance. As she listed the names of the victims, the wind rustled through the crowd and blew out the candles.

Gomez then read a message from Drake, who was in Washington, and assured the crowd that in the aftermath of this terrible event, the administration would "redouble [its] efforts to confirm the safety of the students and faculty on this campus." Gomez continued, saying that even though Irvine is one of the safest cities in the world, UCI and Virginia Tech shared many similarities, including "stunned sorrow and common grief." He further reminisced upon some of the heroes of the Virginia Tech shootings and requested the crowd to pray for killer Cho Seung-Huis&#39; family who was said to be feeling "helpless, hopeless and lost."

Krom expressed her belief that "sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring a community together," and as proof she brought a family who worked for the Kids Who Care Club, a foundation that makes quilts for kids who have undergone major surgeries. The children who made a beautiful quilt with patches for each victim which was going to be sent to the university from the City of Irvine.

Inouye verbalized the importance of refraining from letting the actions of a single individual reflect an entire ethnic community, reminding the students that despite everything "today, and for every tomorrow, we are all Americans."

After the student speakers had expressed their sympathy for the tragedy and rallied the students to work together as a community, Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Cross Cultural Center Ana Gonzalez related the rest of the week&#39;s events, which included emotional distress, relief and open discussions about the Virginia Tech shootings. She also urged everyone present to write on the two boards set up for the students to express their thoughts, sentiments and prayers. By the end of the day, the boards were covered with such things as personal notes from students to artwork by sororities and fraternities.

The vigil appropriately ended with Diedre Butler&#39;s "In the Arms of an Angel," the most heart-rending part of the entire ceremony. Some people were moved to tears and sought comfort in the arms of friends, while others sat in deep reflection. Blair Hollingsworth, a first-year drama major attending the proceedings, described the entire vigil as "beautiful and well-planned."

The deaths of 32 people tragically killed on that terrible day brought a community together. Members of the crowd were drawn closer to each other as a group and all race, ethnicity, gender and religious differences were forgotten as students left their identities as UCI Anteaters and became one with the Virginia Tech students. As Gomez so rightfully put it, "This evening, we are all Hokies in spirit."

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Original Source:<a href=http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5754>New University - April 30, 2007</a>

Creator

Anam Siddiq

Date

2007-08-19

Contributor

Sara Hood

Rights

Zachary Gale <newueic@gmail.com>

Language

Title

Letter to the Editor: UCI Student&#39;s Suicide Ignored

Description

I am writing with some reactions I had to three pieces in the New University of April 30, namely Anam Siddiq&#39;s front-page article on UC Irvine&#39;s vigil for the Virginia Tech community members who died on April 16, their families, and the survivors; Emilie Doolittle&#39;s article on under-funded counseling services at UCI; and Philip Grant&#39;s open letter to Chancellor Michael V. Drake on his message to the UCI community in response to the Virginia Tech events.

Grant asks why the chancellor would send a message about 32 dead in Virginia, instead of any number of dead on a given day in Iraq. There is probably no answer, or too many, to that question. I have a different question: Why have the murders of 31 and the suicide of another on a campus in Virginia warranted a campus-wide message and vigil, while the March 30 suicide death by gunshot in a social sciences stairwell of a member of UCI&#39;s own student body goes unmentioned, save a lede in the OC Register and a similar one at the beginning of Doolittle&#39;s article?

Did this student&#39;s life mean less than any one of the victims at Virginia Tech? Does the proximity of his death, and his membership in our UCI community, before we get to questions of "our nation," as Grant mentions, not make the event of his suicide perhaps more important, in terms of a public announcement and vigil? We were called upon to cope openly with the Virginia tragedy; is there no need to cope with the death of a fourth-year undergraduate who must have had human connections hereâ€”roommates, classmates, professors and friends? Or did the distance and sensationalism that marked the Virginia events call more for a public response than a largely unnoticed nighttime end to a UCI student&#39;s life in a quiet stairwell?

I believe that a community response to this young man&#39;s death would do more to remind us of the pressures of university living, and to produce awareness of treatment options, than a response to a series of deaths thousands of miles away. Perhaps his family would benefit, as well. I do not know his name, and perhaps we should not. I mourn for him in some way, nevertheless, and in another way, I mourn for the loss of a memorial from his, our, communityâ€”a memorial that would have afforded us a moment to consider some of the values that Chancellor Drake sets out: respect, empathy, appreciation, or at the very least what Vice Chancellor GÃ³mez described at the vigil for others as "stunned sorrow and common grief." Perhaps these can be shown in silence, but can they be shown in ignorance?